Election

Colorado online voter system could play role in future recall elections

By Kurtis LeeThe Denver Post

Posted:
07/28/2013 12:01:00 AM MDT

Victor Head sits in his Pueblo home Tuesday, surrounded by the phone, laptop and tablet he used to gather signatures for a recall petition. Head used the technology to access voter registration information available online. (Grant Hindsley, The Denver Post)

The way Victor Head accomplished what may have forever changed how petitions are gathered — and what stunned Colorado's political landscape this summer — originated with an iPhone and a 4-year-old voter law.

Those were the tools, along with a mix of tablets and laptops, the 28-year-old plumber from Pueblo and a little more than 80 organizers utilized as they scoured parking lots and sat perched at folding tables outside businesses collecting petition signatures to recall Sen. Angela Giron, a Pueblo Democrat, from a heavily Democratic- leaning district.

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"From the smartphones, we had the secretary of state's voter registration website locked in and at the ready," Head said. "In 30 seconds, we were able to punch in a name, ZIP code and birth date and confirm that people signing were actually registered and lived in the district. We even registered some people that wanted to sign."

The innovation allowed them to beat back the common adage among petition gatherers that a healthy number of extra signatures — sometimes double the targeted amount — are needed given that the verification process usually finds numerous invalid signatures.

Head's group, Pueblo Freedom and Rights, submitted only 13,466 signatures — or 2,181 more than the required 11,285. Yet only 6 percent of the signatures they turned into the secretary of state's office to recall Giron were deemed invalid.

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By contrast, about 37 percent of the signatures gathered by organizers vying to oust Senate President John Morse, a Colorado Springs Democrat, were ineligible.

Such a stark difference came because Morse recall organizers didn't utilize voter information available online.

Colorado law requires a person to be a registered voter and live within the district for their signatures to be valid in a recall.

Head, a Republican, insisted that his organizers take the extra step of checking voter registration in real-time online in their effort to recall Giron for her votes on stricter Colorado gun laws implemented this month.

"We were doing the secretary of state's job before his office had to do it," he said. "We used their technology and had a good idea of what would be validated."

Political observers predicted he would never collect enough signatures, but Head and his allies, including two other plumbers, one of them his brother, saw the technology as a viable tool to make the recall effort a reality.

"What we've seen here is really symptomatic of a broader trend," Denver-based political analyst Eric Anderson said. "Voter data has always been available to the public, but now with the technology it can be accessed on the spot and in real time. In this case, it's been used effectively in organizing."

Five years ago, using online voter registration tools in gathering signatures would have been an aberration. Petitioners, even today, still use hard-copy voter rolls to check out the registration of an individual.

But since 2009, about a dozen states — including Colorado — have implemented online voter registration laws, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

And in Colorado, which is among just 19 states to allow recalls of state lawmakers, it's likely to take on a new role for groups vying to gather enough valid petition signatures to get an item on the ballot or — like Head — recall a state lawmaker.

Web-optimized site

The ability to access voter registration online went into effect with passage of legislation in 2009, and "GoVoteColorado.com" was launched a year later under then-Secretary of State Bernie Buescher, a Democrat. The current secretary of state, Republican Scott Gessler, Web-optimized the site to make it easy to use on a tablet or smartphone.

"The goal is to make sure Colorado remains at the forefront of technological voter innovation," said Gessler, who cites significant increases in voter turnout and registration when comparing the 2008 and 2012 general elections. Gessler attributes it to the online system.

"I would have never anticipated someone would use this in a recall effort, but it made it easier for them, and it's a good thing in that sense," he said.

Gessler, who received flak from Democrats for speaking to Pueblo Republicans in March about recall elections, is quick to point out that forcing a recall takes more than just typing in data.

"Elbow grease goes into gathering signatures," Gessler said. "When it's all said and done, you still have to get out there and talk to people. The online system is just one piece."

Former state GOP Party chairman Dick Wadhams said technology and the two current recall elections could embolden future efforts.

"But I don't think it's likely," Wadhams said. "The issue of guns is just so intense and emotional. Coloradans don't want elections every year, but when the issues hold this much weight, it makes people react."

But the success of the Pueblo group should serve as a wake-up call to elected officials, Anderson said.

"Listening closely to constituent concerns are definitely heightened," he said.

Wisconsin recall effort

The most high-profile recall of an elected official occurred last year in Wisconsin about collective bargaining rights for public employees. Organizers gathered a little less than 1 million signatures in their effort to oust Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who ultimately survived the recall election. But in the Badger State, unlike in Colorado, those who sign a recall petition are not required to be registered voters, just residents of the state and eligible to vote.

"It made our process much easier," said Lisa Subeck, executive director of United Wisconsin. "We just really had to confirm people were residents, not registered voters."

However, when Californians recalled Democratic Gov. Gray Davis in 2003 about state budget concerns, petition signers had to be registered to vote.

Bader & Associates paid petitioners to gather about 1.6 million signatures. The group needed 867,000 to spark a recall; 1.3 million were verified.

"There's certainly a concern for fraud when petitioners can find up-to-the-date information. They might be enticed to forge signatures," said Tom Bader, founder of the organization based outside Sacramento, Calif. Bader said that though California has online voter registration, he's never observed petitioners using it in real-time.

"It's certainly an option to utilize," he said.

In Colorado, a group is working to collect 86,000-plus signatures by an Aug. 5 deadline to get an education tax on the November ballot. But whether Colorado Commits to Kids is using the same strategy as Pueblo Freedom and Rights is unknown.

"There will be time to discuss the various methods employed by members of the Colorado Commits to Kids coalition down the road," group spokesman Curtis Hubbard said.

Anderson, who in a previous career was a reporter, remembers visiting the Denver Clerk and Recorder's office in the 1990s to view voter registration records.

"There was a computer terminal set up to search voter files," Anderson said. "The information has always been accessible, just from now on, it's being integrated into real time, which helps future political outreach operations."